Your Auto - Personalized or not?

[miss kitty fantastico]

i prefer personalised much for the same reasons other people have stated, are we allowed to put little post its on the picture with ya name on?

[Kazonolga]

Robert Beltran is a really, really nice guy. At a huge con once, he actually wasn't allowed to personalize a picture because of the long line and the huge crowd, but still he did it. (or at least, I got it personalized) And at another con he even wanted to give me a personalized picture for free. That was nice, really nice. And he takes the time to talk, altho small talk, but he is really interested. I have the feeling that regarding him it's not just the money, but meeting, chatting to fans and being friendly to them is important too for him.

[Persephone1]

In terms of 10 x 8 photos I like them to be personalised as the fact that my name is on it is very important to me. However if I am collecting multiple autographs on something like my Firefly dvd or the Firefly cast shot I would want that to remain unpersonalised. Same for trading cards.

[Raylenth]

I go for both. I always try to get an 8x 10 and get that personalised but I also have a poster that i just want the guest's sig on. I think it would look messy if it had my name all over the poster and it's a space issue as well.

[fugaziuk]

i really don't understand the long line excuse. how come kristanna loken managed to personalise and pose at c4 and still manage to see a hell of a lot ofpeople!! she has an enormous que all weekend

[mooby81]

majority of my photo's are personalised. but I have a star wars and LOTR multiple signed posters that are just the sigs.

[Nebitt!!]

Depends on what I'm getting signed. I prefer to have photos personalised. For items, it depends what it is, mostly on whether I want to get multiple sigs on the item. I've got the Buffy all seasons box set onto which I'm trying to get all the signatures I can. It's not like I'm planning to sell it, but it's going to look a bit crowded if personalised. But if that's all Charisma will do then I'll have to live with it, I certainly respect her for her ethics.

 

I agree that the long line excuse is poor - it takes seconds to write a name, particularly if people write it down on a piece of paper for them to copy. I can understand not allowing photos - that takes a lot of time. But when you're paying £15-20, the least people can do is acknowledge your presence and give you the option of a simple personalisation - James Marsters stood up and shook everybody's hand, but still got through his queue, and everyone came away feeling special.

[MikeDonovan]

All of my items are personalized, except for two : - Leonard Nimoy (who wouldn't personalize for some bizarre reason), and a nice big cast picture of the TNG cast out of uniform (which I've got 5 on so far - even Patrick Stewart - only Gates McFadden and Levar Burton to go).

 

The only reason the TNG item is not personalized is that it would look a bit too 'busy' if it was - looks nicer with just silver sigs. It's such a nice item it's obvious I didn't buy it on E-bay - if I did it would prob have been a lot of money. Not sure how much, but I reckon it will be worth something in the future - not that I'll ever sell it.

 

In terms of general autos, I honestly can't see a lot of these photo's ever being worth much, considering how many of them there are out there. Only the rare ones tend to be worth anything - lets face it, no disrespect to those guys who turn up a lot, but if everyone has a copy of someones auto, it's not going to be worth much. So why bother treating it as an investment?

 

SM I really believe that you should co-erce the guests to personalize - it just makes the experience that much more special.

Edited June 15, 2005 by MikeDonovan

[Poppy]

I prefer my autographs personalised too.

 

I was at the Batman Begins premiere on Sunday and Christian Bale was only personalising, he refused to sign if there was no personalisation, he said he wont help out the dealers. Katie Holmes was also personalising every autograph. I think it's great, makes the experience so much more thrilling for me. This was the first time I've ever gotten personalised autographs at a premiere, and I've been to quite a few now, I think everyone should do it!

 

I realise that non-personalised autographs are a tangible asset as someone said, and yes, if I was in financial straits, then I might consider selling the ones I have, but to me they're the proof that I've met the people that signed them and it would be a real shame.

 

Janine

I completely agree with you. especially since dealers can often be quite pushy at premieres and ruin it for the real fans!

 

The one thing about christian personalising that I did not realise up until now is that very few people got him at the batman premiere. we were very very lucky. The personalising does slow down the process. Howvere its amazing for the people that do get it and I too applaud christian bale for what he did! what a star!

[TruFaith]

Whenever its possible I prefer to have at least one autograph unpersonalized. I have no intention at all of selling any of my autographs but I just like to have one in my collection that isn't personalised. I have met Amber Benson twice and I have 6 items signed by her, 4 are personalised (Chance dvd and 3 photos) and 2 are unpersonalised (a photo and a Top Trumps card). The same goes for Alyson Hannigan, I have 4 autographs, 2 personalised and 2 unpersonalised. As I said before I have NO intention of selling any of my autographs its just that I do like to have one autograph from each guest I meet to be unpersonalized whenever its possible

 

Plus it depends what the item is. Action figures, CDs and dvds I usually prefer to be unpersonalized. Also if its a poster or photo that I hope to get signed by more than one person then I wouldn't want that personalized because

1. It saves on space so more people can sign it

2. I think it looks a mess to have the guests personalize when more than on celebrity has signed

 

Also if I have an unpersonalized photo it means that theres the possibility of giving it away as a gift. I've done this a couple of times with autographs I got from Alyson Hannigan, Amber Benson and Kim Cattrall

[fray101]

I vote pesonalised, because - well, that makes it personal! But I wouldn't be crushed it it was just a signature. Mind you, it's nice if the signature is actually recognisable....got Ewan McGregor's at the weekend and frankly, if I hadn't seen him sign it I'd have wondered what the hell it was!

 

What I CAN do without, is all the "great meeting you" - kind of like the "have a nice summer" comments that don't really mean anything.

[TruFaith]

I forgot to say, that while its good that celebrities personalize to try and cut down on the amount of their autographs sold on eBay theres alot of dealers who know how to remove personalizations so really it doesn't make any difference to them if the celebrity personalizes or not. What they will usually do is ask for the photo to be signed to a short name, Jon, Kim, Tom, Lyn...so theres less ink for them to remove

 

I'm not on the dealers side over this, I think its wrong that they take time away from the real fans who want to meet that celebrity. Its worse when they wait outside of theatres for autographs because they don't care about the others that are there. As long as they get their autographs for selling then they're happy. But the really bad thing is that some dealers do go and meet the celebrity and get an autograph and photo taken with them/ of them and then they go home and copy the autograph onto a different photo and advertise it as "IN PERSON AUTOGRAPH. I MET AND GOT AN AUTOGRAPH. SEE PHOTO" and because theres a photo alot of people will bid thinking its real

 

Also at Collectormania I saw one stall sell a PRE PRINT of Alyson Hannigan which you can get for FREE. And they sold it for £25. That made me so mad and I still regret that I didn't say something to the person on the stall and the girl who bought it

 

I think if genuine fans would prefer an unpersonalised autograph thats fine. And at the end of the day dealers will find a way to make money whether the autograph was personalized or not

 

Just for the record I want to say that I have no respect at all for dealers. After seeing the way they were when I met Alyson Hannigan, it made me sick

[surfy_sah]

Personalized def i didn't meet particular guests at C7 cause they weren't....

ditto! shame though really

 

I like mine to have my name on, even if it's a cast shot I still have them "to sarah"

as people have said, it's more personal, more special addressed to you, more memories

 

also if I didn't want to meet guests and have personalisation, I could just get autos from a variety of dealers! you might say this is more expensive but events cost LOADS

 

so yeah, personalised every time!

 

really gutted that my Carrie Fisher auto and also Leonard Nimoy ones aren't personalised but if I ever meet them again I will try n get my name on there!

 

 

surfy sah xx

[Liessa]

I asked Andrew Robinson to personalise a picture he was allowed to personalise the first time I met him. He was only happy to, and a bit flattered I think.

[fugaziuk]

how come your carrie one isn't personalised??? she was doing personalisation

 

i prefer having my name and some sort of quote or msg and thier character name on the photo.

 

most of the time i think of something they can put that isn't too dumb and they will prob do!

 

I like the photos with a fair bit of writing on them as they are more memorable than just a sign!

[whip_pie]

i always get mine just signed. i personally think it looks better, i usually get it signed in silver pen.

 

Another reason why i get it just signed because they are going to be in my family for a long time so when they get passed down the line they will still be able to be displayed. As i guess my kids would not want a signed picture on the wall which is personalised to their father!!

 

and as for selling on ebay, if you actually look at the auto's selling they are actually selling for less than what you are paying at the cons. Also people only buy if your registered now.

 

When it comes to gettingauto's i always go mad tho and buy up most of them.

[Spookie]

Although I have seen some dealers who are right b******s, I would like to say that not all dealers are like that - at the Collateral London premiere I was standing next to one guy who was very polite to all the cast, he didn't take any crap being shoved about in the crowd, but he wasn't out of order. He got a few photos/mag signed, not excessive, and he checked to see if mine got signed too - he gave me a MI2 poster when he saw I just had my little auto book :-)

 

Good dealers are cool - if you are a huge fan of an actor you are probably never going to get the chance to meet, they can make your dream of getting a real genuine autograph come true.

 

So yeah, all I'm saying is they're not all bad.

[whip_pie]

oh yeah and i always get myautos on individual photo's or posters

[greedo_uk]

Personalised definitely, however I dont begrudge people getting them one day and selling them on ebay the next ..... if someone willing to buy it off you for more than you paid what the hell ! ( anyway lets fact it the guys doing the signing dont do alot for their ££ ) -*prepares for barrage of abuse ! *

 

More important for me is getting a photo with the person in question - something really personal that no one else can have

[cat_b]

I prefer to get mine Personalized I have a few which aren't but i'm not to bothered about that

[Spookie]

Oops forgot to answer the actual question!!

 

If possible I like personalised autos - but most of mine aren't because I've collected them at premieres. And they're no less special because they're just the sign - same goes for autographs that aren't the "full" sign... for example I got a great photo of Orlando Bloom signed at the KoH premiere, he signed "OB" which some people moan about, but hey, he signed it for me! That's the only initialed auto I have.

 

If James Marster had been personalising at CM7, I would have got an extra auto as well as the 1 I pre-ordered and the 1 I got in person.

 

The only personalised one I have is Lawrence Makoare - he put "To Mel Best Wishes from the Dark Lord Lawrence Makoare Witchking!" Which I think is pretty cool

[martine]

i only want a signature because when they sign it to your name it doesn't mean a fracking thing like they know you now or something. most of the time they don't give a damn about you, they just want money. plus it has no money value anymore when they personalise it and most of the times i payed a lot of money to meet them and let them sign my stuff. although i would never sell it (i'd rather life in a cardboard box behind the trainstation) i love it that i have some realy pricey autographs.

 

if they give them for free i wouldn't mind personalisations (it's the principle for me) or when i crew or whatever and it gives it something extra.

 

oh and i actually think that just a siggie on your item looks way better.

Edited June 15, 2005 by martine

[porkfat]

he had the look of a man who had sold his soul.

 

[Steviefull]

If its a photo then personalised everytime (and a photo with person is a must) otherwise on a poster its signature only

[aliens vs predator]

I'd always get personalised, makes it look better because they are writing it for you.